Higher Performing Workplaces (HPW) is funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and managed by the West Yorkshire Consortium of Colleges.
To be eligible for funding:
Julia Felton is an energetic, self-motivated and dynamic Leadership and Business Coach with a proven track record in delivering quality results in both corporate and SME sectors. Known for her straight talking style, Julia coaches business leaders to get out of their own way so they can build a successful, profitable and sustainable business. She excels at acting as a sounding board enabling business leaders to find clarity and certainty in the chaotic business environment that they operate in.
Julia believes that if you want to change something you need to see it from a different perspective which is why, where possible, her coaching is conducted out in nature and even with her herd of horses. When you escape from the normal working day and step into nature you allow yourself to re-connect and re-ignite your true desires. You give yourself the time and space to find the inner clarity that helps you accelerate performance.
Graham Pitchforth (ACIM) (MSET) is a researching practitioner working in further education and is extremely keen on Continuous Professional Development, research and scholarly activity. He strongly believes in lifelong learning for all and enjoys sharing good practice with others.
Graham is Assistant Head of Higher Skills at Calderdale College. He is also a key member of Rise, Calderdale College’s service for employers, providing a range of bespoke workforce development support to businesses across the Leeds City Region.
An experienced lecturer in secondary, further and higher education settings, Graham has also held roles within retail and the third sector. His skills and experience include leadership and staff development, quality assurance, marketing, promotion, business continuity, online learning and digital strategy, stakeholder engagement and community development, innovative thinking and strategic planning.
Graham holds professional membership with The Society for Education and Training (SET) and The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Associate Member (ACIM).
Duncan is a leadership, coaching and organisational development consultant. With an extensive background of both private and public sector work, he is creative and responsive to the needs of individuals and organisations, delivering executive coaching to achieve individual and business goals.
Having achieved qualifications in leadership, coaching and learning and development, his recent focus has shifted to incorporating Emotional Intelligence (EI) into his work, where appropriate. This has arisen from his MSc degree in Emotions, Credibility and Deception with the University of Central Lancashire. The added EI dimension when incorporated into leadership, executive coaching and OD work can bring new experiences and challenges for future-focused organisations and help deliver results in areas such as change management, business improvement and coaching practice.
Lisa is an accomplished Executive Coach, Organisation Development Practitioner, and Trainer with over 25 years experience. She is practical and resourceful with her approach to problem solving and change and she enjoys strong, trusting partnerships with those she works with.
Lisa believes that organisations can maximise their potential by engaging, developing and ultimately retaining their best people. She designs and delivers a range of coaching, mentoring and development programmes to enable leaders and their teams to achieve their desired organisational outcomes.
Lisa’s clients include: Pharmaceuticals – Utilities – Construction – Logistics – Social Housing – NHS – Charities – Shared Services – Technology and IT – Research and Development – Higher Education – Government
She has excellent communication and coaching skills, which inspire individuals and organisations to be outstanding. She has great rapport with people and her programmes are energising and outcomes-focused.
Rebecca is an experienced Executive Coach, trainer and consultant operating in the UK and internationally. She delivers specialist organisational development consultancy supporting the onward organisational journey through the design and delivery of bespoke training and development programmes – focusing on leadership and management skills, coach and mentor development and organisational change.
Rebecca is a qualified and experienced executive coach and works with individuals and corporate clients in a wide range of sectors. She enjoys working closely with clients to understand their organisation and their vision for the future before designing and delivering bespoke staff development programmes that blend theory, practical exercises, case studies and coaching to support the achievement of organisational strategy.
Rebecca is also a guest university lecturer on the subject of leadership development. She is a Chartered Member of the CIPD and holds an MSc in Leadership and Organisational Change Management.
Simon Shepherd is a Director of Client Marketing Ltd, a Yorkshire based proven sales and marketing consultancy and training provider to a whole host of companies in the public, private and third sectors.
We help businesses grow by:
Providing marketing consultancy to develop the individual components of the marketing mix and includes how to use traditional marketing channels, digital marketing, social media and international marketing.
Providing sales and business development coaching and consultancy ensuring companies have a sales plan, sales processes, sales skills and the means to grow their revenue and customer base.
Giving practical Marketing advice on:
Providing in depth coaching on research of export markets to assess the potential and to find partners in target and to help you with the first steps in international trade.
Rebecca is a highly experienced business and executive coach. She has been coaching for 20 years and training coaches to an accredited standard for 15 years. She enjoys working with clients at key times to provide support, challenge and a space to reflect and grow.
She is passionate about coaching and takes an in-depth psychological approach to the work she does. Gestalt, Transactional Analysis and Relational Coaching methodology form the basis of her approach, which involves raising awareness to stimulate change. She does not just coach at a transactional level, but works at this deeper level to deliver transformational changes for her coachees which potentially have benefits for both the working and personal life of her clients. With the capacity to both support and challenge clients in an empathetic manner, Rebecca adds real value to executives in their roles. In addition, she has been told she brings warmth, humour and an ability to get to the heart of the matter.
As Director of a coaching consultancy, Rebecca provides executive coaching and coach training, alongside providing team coaching and facilitation to board and leadership teams. She has lectured at Post Graduate level in Business and Executive Coaching and in Coaching Psychology both for Leeds Beckett University and University College Dublin. Her early career was in FMCG where she worked both in HR and Learning and Development in Senior Management roles. She has recently (2020) become an Associate Tutor on the University of Manchester’s faculty for the Elizabeth Garratt Anderson Masters leadership development programme for key NHS leaders.
Sue is passionate about coaching helping her clients to see new possibilities and ways of working. She has been coaching for 20 years and training coaches for the last 12 years.
Sue takes an in-depth psychological approach to the work she does. Gestalt, Transactional Analysis and Relational Coaching methodology form the basis of her approach which involves raising awareness to stimulate change. She does not just coach at a transactional level, but works at a deeper level with individuals, to deliver transformational changes in the work place. With the capacity to both support and challenge clients in an empathetic manner, Sue often works at key transitions or turning points in their life.
Words frequently used to describe Sue are empathetic, perceptive, authentic and supportive.
As Director of a coaching consultancy, Sue provides executive coaching, coach and management training, alongside providing team coaching and facilitation to board and leadership teams. She has lectured in coaching and team coaching at Leeds Beckett University and University College Dublin. Her earlier career in manufacturing management and corporate HR and Learning and latterly as HR Director, gives her a clear understanding of the challenges of leadership.
A highly experienced consultant, CEO and coach, Nadia Porter has 15 years of experience and specialism across business growth, strategy, marketing, market research and raising investment. Nadia specialises in working with businesses to drive significant growth and build actionable plans that produce results. She is founding director of a leading strategy and marketing consultancy in the North, holds an MBA from the University of Bradford and a BA from Humber College Toronto. She’s held a number of director and board level roles, and in addition to the UK, has extensive experience in international markets across B2B and B2C.
Her track record in SME and start-up support demonstrates exceeding growth goals by over 250%. In addition to SME’s she has worked with leading firms such as PwC and University Tech Transfer and spinout/licensing projects across the country. She has been a coach and consultant for multiple LEPs, and her consultancy Go Strategy is also a training provider.
Andrew has amassed a wealth of knowledge from his years in business and academia, he is a skilled business coach and experienced trainer. Though able to engage and support all types of business leader and issues, he has a particular specialism in advancing sales and marketing skills. He has worked with a range of business clients helping to support them to start, grow and be more successful in business. Key to all his client work is helping them to set out a clear plan for action alongside some form of accountability measures.
Andrew is committed to lifelong learning and consequently reads a book every week. He is a qualified NLP practitioner, holds a Level 5 Business Coaching and Mentoring Diploma; and he is a member of both the Chartered College of Teaching and the Association of Coaching.
Bernard is experienced at establishing and leading business. In a career that has included senior roles in the private sector, academia and charities he has amassed a wealth of knowledge to share. His qualifications include a MSc in Business Management. He has supported numerous new business leaders through training, mentoring and coaching across the UK.
Bernard’s strengths lie in being able to listen intently, ask key questions and test a client’s presumptions. He can deep-dive into the detail of process management and find efficiencies, as well as being comfortable examining line management challenges and sharing techniques to best inspire colleagues. This versatility brings clarity to what can feel like complex situations and supports the client to set clear plans that they can measure. During coaching Bernard draws upon a wide range of tools and templates to create a bespoke plan for each client’s situation.
Dr. Martin Haigh MBE is the owner of multi award-winning learning and development company, Lattitude7. A Chartered Engineer who holds a Ph.D from Leeds University, Martin followed a career in leadership before becoming Group Coach for an international company embracing talent management and OD. He is an NLP Practitioner and an Appreciative Inquiry Practitioner. Martin acquired a business coaching certificate from the Coaching Academy and a business coaching diploma from the Academy of Professional Coaching. He is the holder of the Highest Achievement Award on a Coaching for Performance Programme and has a qualification in Cultural Awareness.
Through his cultural awareness, Martin offers a range of coaching solutions to support people, teams and organisations, including:
Expertise - Unlocking root causes and changing unhelpful attitudes leads to focused and effective employees, enhanced organisational performance and improved results. Sessions are made exciting and clients self-discover and find the best solution path to success. Programmes are scoped to exceed client expectations and NLP, AI and EI expertise helps clients to understand personal and organisational opportunities and aspirations. Clients realise tangible deliverables in a changing environment and embed sustainable learning.
Drawing from a wealth of over 35 years of Sales, Marketing, Manufacturing and Finance experience, Jeff is a seasoned business professional, complete with the grey hair you would expect from someone with decades of first-hand business experience.
Beginning his business journey in FMCG sales, Jeff has an impressive track record of working in a wide range of sectors, including Accounting, Manufacturing, Consumer Goods, Technology and Banking, before starting, growing and selling his own successful manufacturing, import and export business.
Jeff now uses his experience to provide coaching and mentoring to Yorkshire businesses, with the sole aim of helping business owners and their teams to overcome obstacles and reach their full potential.
Philip can help you build a high-performance team through coaching and mentoring and getting the very best from your staff.
Philip is absolutely passionate about business success in all its forms, and has spent many years supporting new and growing businesses, specialising in business planning, marketing, finance and tax issues. Philip can guide your people through their learning, support them with any problems they may have and demystify the business jargon along the way.
He strongly believes that your working relationship with him will be a partnership, and he will work alongside your staff in their learning experience and can promise a terrific and rewarding journey towards their goals.
Philip is looking forward to working with you and playing his part in taking your business forward and achieving great success.
Michelle Mook is the founder and managing director of Pro-Development (UK) Limited based in York providing support in all aspects of employee engagement and people development.
"My commitment to you:
My aim is to work with you to enable you to build a new awareness of yourself to give you the best possible chance of achieving your work-related goals. It involves having a conversation where you have time and a safe space to reflect. I will help you to understand the patterns of behaviour and thinking that you are demonstrating and help you to see things from a new perspective and so identify some different ideas and options for achieving your outcome. At the core of coaching is my belief that you have the resources you need, I will help you to find them.
Although my coaching style is none directive, where there is a need and you agree to a more directive approach, I will make suggestions based on over 25 years working in people and leadership development.
We can have a conversation about anything, nothing is too trivial or too difficult, it depends on what is a priority for you at the time, for example, preparing for a specific event e.g. implementing change, developing soft skills such as communication, building confidence, managing people, developing teams, developing leadership skills etc. It may be as a result of feedback you have received which you wish to explore or make changes to address.
My strengths:
I believe my key strength is putting people at ease and creating a safe environment for you to express yourself. My strong sense of making a difference helps us to ensure that you achieve your goals and outcomes in a supportive way whilst not being afraid to challenge you when needed. I bring a wealth of experience but love to help people find their way through what appear to be difficult situations.
The content of the coaching may include confidential personal or job-related information. I will not directly or indirectly disclose this information to any third party without direct permission from you as the client, as far as this is legal and does not endanger you or others. I may share information about our discussions with my coaching supervisor but I will not disclose your name or organisation, the aim of this will be to help me to reflect and to improve my coaching practice.
My sole aim is to help you to be the best that you can. For this reason, I will challenge you when I think that it will be helpful to you. I will only do this with your best interests in mind."
"My commitment to you:
My aim is to work with you to enable you to build a new awareness of yourself to give you the best possible chance of achieving your work-related goals. This involves having a conversation where you have time and a safe space to reflect. I will help you to understand the patterns of behaviour and thinking that you are demonstrating and help you to see things from a new perspective and so identify some different ideas and options for achieving your outcome.
We can have a conversation about anything you want, for example, you may have received some feedback which you wish to explore further or act upon. It could be you are preparing for a specific event (e.g. implementing change, developing soft skills such as communication, building confidence, managing people, developing teams, developing leadership skills etc). Nothing is too trivial or too difficult, our conversations depend on what is a priority for you at the time.
My strengths:
I believe my key strength are helping others see the bigger picture and making sense out of complexity. I bring experience of project management and enjoy helping others to find their own solutions and best ways of working. Stakeholder management and influencing skill are key element of delivering projects and I bring a wealth of experience in managing different types of stakeholders, which get results whilst using interpersonal skills to maintain and build relationship.
The content of the coaching may include confidential personal or job-related information. I will not directly or indirectly disclose this information to any third party without direct permission from you as the client, as far as this is legal and does not endanger you or others. I may share information about our discussions with my coaching supervisor, but I will not disclose your name or organisation, the aim of this will be to help me to reflect and to improve my coaching practice.
My view is we are all learning, all the time therefore I will never judge, my sole aim is to help you to be the best that you can. For this reason, I will challenge you when I think that it will be helpful to you. I will only do this with your best interests in mind."
Esther has managed social media accounts for various businesses across the past 5 years. Alongside this she has also trained individuals and groups to use social media strategically for their business. Esther is familiar with coaching business owners and employees to get to grips with social media and digital marketing.
With a degree in graphic design, Esther has a strong creative background which enhances her passion to help businesses raise their brand awareness using both digital and traditional media.
One of only 25 Accredited Facebook #SheMeansBusiness Trainers in the UK, Esther has delivered promoted (paid for) social media campaigns on behalf of clients as part of the content management packages.
Esther is part of the Social Progress team who support SMEs and larger corporates with strategy and planning, social media in-house and open workshops, 1:1 training, social media set up, digital reviews, Facebook advertising campaigns and social media management.
Janet is a highly regarded social media marketing consultant and coach. One of only 25 Accredited Facebook #SheMeansBusiness Trainers in the UK, Janet is a certified Facebook Blueprint Digital Marketing Associate and a badged Trainer for Facebook Blueprint.
Janet was recognised as one of Enterprise Nation’s top 50 UK Growth Advisers in 2015 and has over 15 years’ experience in business and enterprise support.
A competent speaker at business events on social media her agency Social Progress were regional finalists for the Chamber Awards in November 2017 in the category of ‘Best Use Of Social Media’ and finalists at the National UK Blog Awards in 2016 and 2017, under the category of ‘Social Media, Marketing, PR and Comms’.
Janet and her team support SMEs and larger corporates with strategy and planning, social media in-house and open workshops, 1:1 training, social media set up, digital reviews, Facebook advertising campaigns and social media management.
Rebecca’s background has mostly been in marketing, building relationships and business development. A degree in media and marketing gave Rebecca a base line for understanding organisational culture, strategies, different markets, segmenting audiences and understand buying behaviours. This understanding helps Rebecca to have an agile and competent approach to a task.
From being involved in small businesses, Rebecca has worked with the recruitment, training and support of fellow members of different teams for over 10 years. Being able to adapt your style to the individual, coach and communicate effectively with an individual is where Rebecca adds value.
As Rebecca’s experience has required her to create opportunities through business development, she is also confident when speaking to others and is able to build a rapport with individuals in a number of positions.
Mike is an experienced Company Director and Business Development Consultant, with a proven track record of success within B2B and B2C. As a former director of a large organisation and business owner he has been a highly regarded Executive Coach, Trainer and Consultant for over 15 years.
Over that time Mike has worked with well over 300 organisations and has a depth of experience you would have difficulty finding else where, his unique perspective provides both challenge and insight.
Mike has held a number of senior positions in a range of organisations as well as owned and run his own SME businesses. As a director of a business that grew from £3m to £37m and 100 to 760 employees in around 36 months he knows all about growing pains and has used 35 years of experience in businesses to help other businesses develop and successfully overcome the challenges of change and growth
Specialisms include; Strategy and business development, Innovation, Operational Excellence and Investment readiness.
Steve Bruckshaw has been a Psychologist for over 20 years. He specialises in developing mental skills and culture change. His focus is Mental Toughness and Advanced Wellbeing. Steve offers bespoke coaching programmes, including ‘Walking with Leaders’, a unique one to one day of psychological walking and coaching with psychometric feedback. Steve’s coaching style is naturally provocative.He works with many organisations. His previous roles have included Head of People Development, Senior Management in Financial Services, Senior Public Affairs Manager and Senior Leadership Training and Sales Manager.
He has a MSc in People Development, BSc in Social Psychology and fellowship-memberships with the British Psychological Society, The Association for Business Psychology, The Institute of Leadership and Management, The Learning and Performance Institute, The Institute of Sales Management, The Association for Coaching and The Special Group of Coaching Psychologists. He is also a Master Practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming.